Possibilities
by loveandmagic9913
Summary: A nineteen year old Sam is leaving Amity Park when she suddenly wakes up at a green and gold mansion in the care of the town's pariah. Dark secrets come to light as she struggles to decide what to do with her life. Three alternate endings. DARK headcanon. Trigger warning! Don't read if you think you might be triggered.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**A/N: This is has a lot of the headcanon I have for Sam about why she is the way she is. It may get really dark, I say this as a warning. There will be mentions of various kinds of abuse, but I will try not to go in-depth because of my own personal issues. Still if you want to remain safe, and don't want to risk triggers, do not read this. There will be three alternate endings to this story, and it actually inspired a spinoff of an original series of mine. Though it is not finished, I began it a few years ago and happened upon it while reading over some old files and decided to finish it. It won't be incredibly long, probably a total of nine or ten chapters including the three different endings. I hope you enjoy it.**

_Possibilities_

A Sam Manson fanfic with 3 Different endings . . .

*contains DARK headcanon*

Chapter 1

The first thing that flashed through Sam Manson's mind when she opened her eyes was, _where the hell am I and how did I get here?_ The last thing she remembered was walking to the bus station, suitcase in hand, to buy a ticket out of Amity Park, maybe one-way or maybe round-trip . . . she hadn't decided yet when things went black. Sam lifted her head barely an inch off the pillow and a sharp pain flared at the back of her skull. After suppressing a groan, she laid her head back down and settled with turning her head from side-to-side in order to take in her surroundings.

She was in a large room, about the size of her bedroom at home, but that's not what struck her and made her release her suppressed groan along with a, "You've _got_ to be kidding me." The entire room was decorated in green and gold, and though she couldn't recall much that Danny Fenton had told her about the place when he'd been there a few years back, there was one thing she _did_ remember that told her there was no doubt that she was in Vlad Master's house. The pain in the back of her skull and the way everything went black came to her mind. There was only one explanation that she could think.

Her boots sat across the room next to her suitcase, which was propped against the gold wall, and her jacket hung across the arm of a green chair in the same corner. She still wore her clothes from the night before: a faded and baggy black T-shirt with a lace panel in the back, a black mini skirt made of the most expensive vegan leather on the market, and a pair of purple stockings with black lace panels running up the sides of her long, toned legs. She pushed the blankets off her and slowly sat up; her eyes finally caught the tray on the bedside table. A glass of water and two small white pills sat in the middle of the tray, flanking them on the right was a folded, white card.

Sam took the card in her hands and read it over carefully. It wasn't addressed to her even though Vlad knew her, and the message also held no salutation or signature, something she thought was uncharacteristic of him. Instead, the card read as follows:

_You should take this medicine upon waking to help with the pain. You needn't worry, it is simple Tylenol and will have no negative affects on you in small doses for at least a few score years. If you're hungry or need me, you should find me in the kitchen, however, I recommend staying in bed until you return to your full health._

The message didn't seem to hold any malicious undertones or hidden meaning, and Sam could see the red word 'TYLENOL' printed on the top of the pills, but she still refused to take them. Her mind was already thinking up plots of how he could be tricking her and for that same reason, she left the water untouched.

Ignoring the last bit of his advice, she stood up from the bed and after a few wobbly steps, she fought through the pain in her head and walked over to put her boots on. It was a slow process, but once she got them on, she was out the door to the hallway and making her way through the mansion to the kitchen. She mentally decided that she'd been in too many mansions because she found the kitchen in no time when it would've taken a normal person about half an hour in the maze-like halls. Past the door to the kitchen, sure enough Vlad was there. He sipped from a coffee mug in between flipping pancakes. Sam was mildly impressed at his willingness and capability to do things for himself despite his wealth. _I don't think my parents even know how to turn on the stove._ But she was more furious than anything else. She stormed the rest of the way into the room.

"You!" She shouted.

Vlad spun around, his midnight blue eyes were wide. "Why aren't you resting?"

Sam ignored his question. "You kidnapped me!"

"Kidnapped you?" His voice was gruff, as if he was offended.

"Yes! You saw me walking alone and you knocked me out and brought me back here as part of some elaborate plan to get back at Danny! Well let me assure you, it's not going to work!" Sam declared.

"I didn't kidnap you! I saved you!" Vlad yelled.

"You're lying!" Sam protested.

"No, I'm not! I may have done some awful things but I would never stand for anyone taking advantage of a young woman, such as yourself!" Vlad countered.

Those words immediately sobered her. "What?"

Vlad took a breath to calm himself before speaking again. "I was out walking when I rounded a corner and saw a young man leaning over your unconscious form. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out his intent, so I shifted forms and scared him off. I didn't know where you lived and the suitcase was an indicator that you didn't want to be there anyways, so I brought you back here. It wasn't even until morning came and I brought the tray in the room that I realized who you were."

Sam stayed silent. She wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not, but the notion that it was possible frightened her. Dark, familiar memories were conjured up, and she had the compulsion to hide herself away from the world with a few helpful items to make her forget again.

Vlad took her silence as a sign that he offended her. "It was just so dark, and you're always wearing all that dark makeup, and I didn't want to disturb you with too much light."

His voice pulled Sam out of her trance and she managed to give a small laugh. "It's okay. I was just thinking about some stuff, but wow . . . you're really bad at apologies."

He chose to ignore her comment and ventured a question that he probably shouldn't. "You're Daniel's girlfriend, correct? So why wasn't he there to save you?"

Sam flinched at the question and her violet eyes flickered to the ground for a mere second before hardening and locking with his. "That's none of your business."

"Now, I think it is my business because I saved you and brought you back to my house to recuperate instead of taking you to him." He took a sip from his coffee mug, and his words would've seemed calm if it hadn't been for the quirk of his eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes and turned back to the door before announcing. "I'm leaving."

"Okay, that's fine. I wasn't keeping you here against your will anyways." He sat his mug on the counter with a loud clank, and he followed her out of the kitchen and back to the room she woke up in. "Do you need me to fly or drive you anywhere? I could take you to your house or to the bus station. I could even take you to the airport and give you the money for a plane ticket if you really want to leave that bad."

Sam laughed. "I don't need your money. I have plenty."

He didn't question her statement. He didn't need her to explain. "Okay then, where would you like me to take you? I assume you're wanting to leave Amity Park."

Sam grew silent for a passing moment. Her mind flipped through her memories in the town. The good and the bad. She wasn't sure which ones weighed more. "I don't know."

"Pardon?" Vlad's brows furrowed when she didn't speak loud enough.

"I don't know." She spat and spun to face him. "I don't know where I want to go or what I want to do. I don't know if I want to stay in Amity Park or leave it forever. I just don't know."

He kept his face expressionless. "You can stay here if you like, until you decide."

She narrowed her eyes. "Do you think I'm an idiot? You're planning something."

"And what possibly could I be planning? Everyone knows about me thanks to Daniel. What could I possibly gain anymore?" Vlad pointed out.

"Thanks to Danny? It's rather egotistic to think that you had no part in ruining yourself. Actually, it's all your fault. If you weren't such a pretentious bastard who thought money, a woman, and control of the world was his _right_, then maybe, you'd still have your respect, your dignity, and your secrets." Sam argued.

"Ah, but if Daniel had simply killed Jack like I wanted him to and accepted me as his father, none of that would have come to pass," he reasoned.

Sam scoffed. "You really expect a statement like that to win me over?"

"Whether you like to admit it or not, young Daniel played a part in my destruction, and in the destruction of others, maybe even in your own. I'm—"

Her voice was low and deadly when she interrupted him. "Don't talk about Danny that way. He hasn't done and would never do anything to hurt me."

"He hasn't? Then what were you doing leaving Amity Park, and why was it that I had to save you instead of him?" A faint smirk crossed his lips.

Sam fell silent again.

"Ms. Manson, I'm trying to help. I do not wish to harm you, just offer you a place to stay while you figure out what you would like to do for yourself. If I wanted to harm you, I would've _and_ could have done so, but I didn't. Now, if you want to leave, I won't stop you, I will even take you to wherever you'd like to go, however, if you'd like to stay, you're welcome to it for as long as you'd like." Vlad spoke levelly.

She didn't answer. Her eyes dropped to the floor and she found herself escaping into her thoughts as she weighed the pros and cons.

"If you need some time to think it over, I understand. You can find me in the kitchen again." He turned to leave the room and only paused when he noticed the untouched pills and water on the tray beside the bed. "You really should take the medicine, I left for you. You may not have a concussion, but the pain in your head isn't going to go away without treatment."

Sam didn't exactly hear his words or see him leave the room, she was too caught up in her mind and still working on her decision.

"I'll stay until I make my final decision, as long as you don't make me talk about why I might be leaving Amity Park." Sam announced as soon as she stepped into the kitchen again.

"I still think I deserve to know, but for now, I won't force the issue." Vlad agreed.

"Thank you." Saying those words to someone who had been an enemy for so long seemed odd, Sam almost felt like she was betraying Danny.

"Would you like some breakfast, Ms. Manson?" Vlad stood from his barstool and moved toward a plate stacked with pancakes.

"You might as well call me Sam, and that depends. What did you put in them?" She sat a few barstools down from where Vlad was sitting.

"I didn't poison them, if that's what you think." He spat.

She had to force back laughter. "No, I didn't think that. I'm an Ultra-Recyclo Vegetarian. I don't eat anything with a face, so if you used any animal products in them, I can't eat them."

"They're pancakes, Samantha, what would be in them that comes from an animal?" He wondered.

She tried not to flinch when he said her full name, but the reaction was automatic. "Please call me Sam, _just_ Sam. And some people use milk, eggs, and butter in their pancakes."

Vlad raised an eyebrow when she flinched but didn't ask the question that was growing on his mind, though he didn't comply with her request either. "Well, Samantha, the pancakes I make are always animal free. How many would you like? And would I be correct in assuming you'd prefer orange juice to drink?"

She flinched again at the use of her full name, but she knew it was useless fighting him on it. "I'll take three, and if you have any coffee to spare, I'll gladly drink that."

His eyebrow quirked again when she flinched but just handed her a coffee mug and stated, "Help yourself," as he pointed to the coffee pot.

Sam's brow furrowed, but she stayed quiet as she got up and poured the coffee for herself. She sat back down at her spot, and when Vlad sat the plate of pancakes and a bottle of syrup in front of her she immediately regretted accepting the food.

Vlad took his seat again and watched her over the top of his coffee mug as she hesitantly lifted her fork and cut the smallest bit of a single pancake before eating it. He couldn't figure out where this behavior was coming from and before he could ask, she spoke.

"I haven't seen you out in Amity Park anymore. I don't think anyone else has either." Her eyes were trained on her food.

"Why would you want to spend time in a town where everyone judges and ridicules you without knowing anything about you?" Vlad proposed the question calmly, but inside he felt anger beneath the surface.

She froze and stared at her plate. A small pang wracked Sam's chest as he spoke. "I've done it since I was six."

The silence grew between them for a few minutes, until Vlad finally spoke. "I spend my time here alone except for the few late night walks in town when hardly anyone is out. You're the first visitor I've had."

"It's been over five years." The words fell out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"Are you trying to tell me that people's thoughts of me have changed even though their thoughts of _you_ haven't changed?" Vlad watched her carefully. Her eyes closed for a minute and she took a breath before shaking her head. "And what you think about me, Samantha, has it changed at all?"

Sam managed to keep herself from flinching and finally looked to him, locking her eyes with his. "No. It hasn't, and it never will."

He couldn't help but smirk. "And what makes you so sure of that?"

Her fork clattered to the counter-top. "I'm sure there's an official list of everything you did somewhere, but just off the top of my head . . . you tried to kill Danny and destroy his life, the way you acted like you should own Mrs. Fenton is a complete insult to women, and you would've taken over the world if you could have succeeded. Oh and did I mention that you almost _killed_ me once or twice?"

"But, Samantha, I _am_ letting you stay in my lavish mansion."

Something inside Sam snapped. "Stop calling me Samantha, damn it! Call me Sam! And you're so right, Masters! You almost killed me, but you're totally making up for it by letting me live in your mansion, which by the way I've seen plenty of mansions, all better than yours."

She hopped up from her stool and spun toward the door all in one swift movement. The sharp pain came back so hard, her vision blurred. Her hands flew to her head and she gritted her teeth after letting out a cry.

"Did I not tell you to take the medicine?" Vlad's voice rose. He stood and filled a glass with water and got two more pills out.

Sam reluctantly took the glass and pills in her hands after he sat them on the island. "I decided I didn't need to take them."

Vlad watched as she downed the pills with ease. "So you must be a doctor?"

She slammed the glass on the counter-top and glared at him. "No, are you?"

He wrung his hands together. "Samantha, I'm just trying to help."

"Then stop calling me that awful name!" Her words came out as an involuntary yell, and she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Sorry, I probably need rest like you said."

Vlad remained stoic, but inside he was reeling from her sudden apology.

She glanced at him, her eyelids lowered so she appeared tired. "You don't mind, do you? I mean, I'm wasting your food, and I haven't exactly been a pleasant house guest."

"No, you need your rest, Samantha. Would you like me to put this away for you to finish later?" He motioned toward her plate.

She looked away from him. "To be honest, I probably won't finish it."

He nodded. "I'll take care of it then. Go rest now, for as long as you need."

"Thanks." Sam left the kitchen and went back to the room where she woke up. She changed into a pair of black and purple striped shorts and a black tank top with purple lace trim. The clothes she changed out of were left on the floor by her open suitcase while she climbed into bed. Memories invaded her mind again. She squeezed her eyes closed and tried to force them back, but they didn't leave her. Tears burned her eyes and she pulled the blankets up over her face just as they started to fall. She lay still and silently cried until she fell asleep.

The room was dark when Sam awoke again. Her clothes were neatly folded up on the same chair that held her jacket, and her suitcase was closed and propped against the wall again. She wiped at her eyes and turned on her side. The pills and glass of water from the morning were still on the tray beside the table. A new card with her name '_Samantha´_ written in black ink on the front, sat on the right of the glass. She raised herself onto her elbow and lifted the card off the tray to read it.

_Samantha,_

_I trust this time you will heed my advice to take the medication I left for you. We don't want another episode like the one in the kitchen earlier, do we? You also need to eat something seeing as all you've had all day was three bites of a pancakes, so I took the liberty of making you a salad which you will find along with a vinaigrette dressing in the refrigerator. I've already eaten, so you needn't worry about me making your meal inhospitable._

_Signed,_

_Vlad Masters_

The message in the card this time did seem different from the last. It was more personalized. Sam tossed the card on the tray and sat up to take the pills he left for her. The water was cold on her lips despite the fact that it had to have been sitting in the comfortably warm room since morning. She was surprised by how thirsty she was and drained the entire glass. After waiting for her head to clear, she stood and carried the glass out of the room and to the kitchen. The kitchen was empty and Sam moved to the side of the counter where the sink was. Before she could turn on the faucet, her eyes fell on the wine rack built into the island.

Sam crouched down and looked over the labels of Vlad's collection. They were the same ones her parents stored in their wine cellar. The familiarity of them was almost comforting, though it should have been scary. She gave another look over the labels, turning the bottles so she could read their information and occasionally removing one from its spot before returning it.

The door to kitchen creaked and Vlad stepped inside. He couldn't see Sam, but he heard the bottles of wine clanking and saw the glass she left sitting on the counter beside the sink. "What do you think you are doing?"

First, fear jarred Sam, but then she shook it off and stood, bringing the bottle in her hands with her. "I'm deciding which wine I would prefer. Do you mind?"

He stepped towards her. "Yes, I mind. You're only nineteen."

Sam laughed and shot him an incredulous look. "Oh come on. It's just wine. And it's not like I haven't had any of the stuff before a few hundred times. I mean, my parents have so much, they never even notice the missing bottles. Just make sure Danny doesn't find out about this, or you're history. He has issues with seeing me as anything but the good little girl he met in second grade."

"I don't care." Vlad stepped up to the island and reached for the bottle which she hurriedly pulled away. "This is my house. That is my wine. And I refuse to contribute to the downfall of our society's youth."

She rolled her eyes and turned away, bottle in hand. A set of wine glasses were in a cabinet with a glass door to the top right and Sam retrieved two of the glasses and sat them on the island counter between her and Vlad. "It's just a little wine. It's not like I have a problem or like I'm going to be throwing myself at you the moment this enters my system. I mean, you're not bad looking, I'm just not a slut." She opened the wine bottle and poured the dark red liquid into each glass until they were filled almost to the brim. Her fingers wrapped around the glass nearest to her and she nodded to the glass left standing. "There, so I'm not drinking alone. And as you said, it _is_ your wine."

"I do not drink with children." Vlad declared.

"Oh, you just try to kill them?" Sam smirked and took a sip of wine.

She grabbed up the bottle and walked past Vlad and out of the kitchen, and then she found her own way into the den. "I've really got to start spending more time in smaller houses."

A few moments passed and Vlad sighed and took up the glass of wine. After a small drink, he left the kitchen and walked to the den.

Dim light from the fire Vlad left burning in the hearth cast a red-golden glow on Sam as she entered the den. She sat on the couch and pulled her legs in close to her. Her delicate fingers cradled the bottom of her wine glass and the bottle was grasped in her other hand. A book lay open on the otherwise empty coffee table, but as she leaned forward to close it, Vlad walked into the room, glass in hand. She sat back and caught hold of the bottle again while staring into her glass of smooth red wine as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

Vlad sat in the chair closest to the sofa. Silence filled the air between them; the only sound that could be heard other than their breathing was the crackling of the fire. Sam finally spoke after awhile and the affect it had on the sound barrier was something akin to an explosion despite her voice being eerily calm.

"He said I was an adrenaline junkie."

Vlad didn't speak. There was only one 'he' to whom she could be referring.

Sam took a sip from her glass and continued. "That's not how it started. For years I had to watch him worship Paulina and Valerie and all those other girls. I put my feelings aside because he's my best friend and I wanted him to be happy. Then we got together. He finally noticed me. It was supposed to be my turn, right? It was supposed to stop hurting. We were together and happy, and we love each other. But everyone knows who he is now. He's the superhero and all the stupid girls, who wouldn't know an original manuscript of _Crime and Punishment _from a copy of Cosmo magazine, just have to hang all over him, even when I'm around. And he thinks it's harmless because he would never _actually_ do anything with them. He doesn't realize how much it still hurts because every time he lets them hang all over him, it reminds me of all those times he picked them over me. I ignored it though, so we wouldn't fight, but then one of the girls went to far and I couldn't just ignore it anymore. We had a huge fight. After my issue with the girls was forgotten, he laid into me about how I throw myself in the way of danger all the time and refuse to sit on the sidelines. He wants me to be some damn damsel in distress, just sitting at home worrying about his safety or letting him save me. He said I'm going to get myself killed, but I never even get hurt while he gets hurt all the time. Then he claimed I do it all because I like the excitement and the rush of adrenaline. I told him that he was being too overprotective and that I was getting sick of it and that I could take care of myself." She paused and gestured to the room with a smirk. "Well I guess this proves I can't take care of myself or else I wouldn't be here."

A short silence followed before Vlad finally spoke. "So you don't think you're an, as you put it, '_adrenaline junkie'_? And this fight is what drove you to want to leave Amity Park?"

"I didn't say that was why I wanted to leave Amity Park, just that we had a fight is all." Sam shot back. "And no, I don't think I'm an adrenaline junkie. Of course I get excited when there's a fight or anything. Who doesn't? Just because I refuse to sit on the sidelines and watch everyone else have all the fun doesn't mean I have a problem."

He raised an eyebrow. "Fun?"

She turned to him. "What?"

"You said it was fun. I doubt Daniel thinks of it as fun, if he did, he wouldn't have been so willing to give up his powers before." Vlad smirked. "I'm beginning to wonder whether or not you desire to have your own set of ghost powers. What if you were given the chance to obtain your own?"

"Don't even go there." Sam turned back to her glass. "I'm pleased with myself, as I am."

"Yet the look on your face and the drink in your hand proclaims otherwise." He declared.

She didn't respond.

Vlad stood from his chair and sat down next to Sam. He sat his glass on the small table beside the sofa and then reached for the bottle in Sam's hand. She tightened her grip on the bottle at first but then surrendered it over to him. He placed it by his glass and turned to take the glass from her, she released it with ease. After placing her glass with his, he turned back to her. "You believe you're smart?"

Sam looked at him, their closeness almost made her shrink back, but she stopped herself. "I know I'm smart."

He motioned to the glasses and the bottle on the side table. "Well that, my dear Samantha, is not smart."

"It's just—" She started.

"It's foolish." He leaned in closer, and a grin crossed his lips as his eyes flashed red. "Now, you don't think you have a problem. If I were to tell you I'm going to shift forms, what would you do? Would you run or dare me?"

Sam still refused to shrink away from him so they were in breathing distance of each other and she glared at him. Her pulse quickened and her heart pounded in her chest.

"I'm waiting for an answer, Samantha." He smirked.

"Neither," She said without thinking.

"What would you do then?"

She hesitated before she answered this time. "I'd either wait for you to shift on your own terms or I'd tell you that you wouldn't do it. I don't know which for certain. It probably depends on how serious I thought the situation was."

"You would use reverse psychology on me to get me to shift, and this you know without a doubt, but you don't believe you have a problem." He sat back, but still watched her.

Sam kept her hardened gaze on him for only a moment when she turned away and grabbed the book off the coffee table in front of them. She glanced at a few pages and flipped it closed so she could read the title aloud. "'_Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution_ by Michael Hammer and James Champy' Do you _really_ read this?"

"It's a book. It's purpose is to be read." Vlad attempted to tear the book from her hands, but she pulled away to hold it out of his reach.

She laughed. "No, _this_ is not a book. A book is meant to be enjoyed."

He grabbed for it again and again she pulled it away. "I do enjoy it."

"Please tell me that not all the books you own are like this one."

"What does it matter if they are?" Once again, he tried to take the book from her, but she moved it out of his reach again. "And give that here! You're acting like a child!"

"News flash, Masters: I almost still _am_ a child." Sam smirked. "And it matters for two reasons. First, I'm staying here and I only have one book in my suitcase and I highly doubt you have a bowling alley in your basement too or anything else I like, and as amusing as it is to watch you try to wrestle a book from my hands, I don't think it will be amusing every day. Second, you couldn't have always found these types of books enjoyable. You weren't always the person you are now, and at one point you had to have enjoyed other books. The person you were before, has to be in there somewhere and saying that he's not or that you only like boring things such as books about business, is a lie about who you are."

He ignored her comment and first reasoning about the books. "Well I certainly am not the only one here who is lying about who he or she is, am I, Samantha?"

Sam's eyes were like violet fire as she shoved the book into his hand and turned away. The crackling from the hearth echoed her growing anger.

Vlad sat the book back on the coffee table. After leaning back, he turned to speak but was immediately silenced; his eyes, which were once again their original blue, caught sight of a cluster of bruises on the inside of Sam's leg. The bruises ranged from fresh black and blue to fading yellow and green.

The feeling of eyes on her was very familiar to Sam, so it took her a little longer than expected to realize that Vlad was staring at the bruises covering the inside of one of her upper thighs. When she finally noticed, she mentally cursed herself for not packing longer shorts and pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa to cover her legs. She spoke after she was sure her bruises could no longer be seen, but she stared into the fire instead of looking back to Vlad. "It would be best for both of us if you didn't ask any of the questions that are on your mind now."

More silence filled the air between them until Vlad stood. "I should be off to bed now, Samantha. Please treat my house better than your own and stay out of anything that is not welcoming to almost still children."

She flinched again at the use of her full name but managed to nod. "Goodnight, Masters. I'll behave as well as I can."

He nodded in response and took up the two glasses and bottle of wine off the side table before disappearing from the room. Sam listened to his footsteps fade away deep inside the house and once she could no longer hear him, she laid down on the sofa and curled up under the blanket. She watched the embers glow in the bottom of the fire and the small flames licked the logs as they slowly died away. The room fell into darkness, and Sam began nodding off into the land of slumber.

**A/N: These are the beginning hints of something darker, if you will be triggered, do not read anything after this point. I hope you enjoy it so far. Let me know what you think in the reviews, however do not flame me as I will ignore it. Constructive criticism is always accepted.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of anything.**

**A/N: There is a poem in this chapter near the very end. Some may consider it long, but is one of Coleridge's shorter poems, if you don't want to read it, skip over it. The poem seemed to fit, and I wanted the two to have a nice moment together, hence the situation. Please do not complain about it, as I will not remove the poem, and there will not be poems in every chapter. This is probably the only chapter that will have one.**

Faint chirps and mews broke through Sam's dream of sitting alone in the woods by a stream while reading her worn out copy of Walden. She opened her eyes and found she'd kicked the blanket off her in the night. A seal point Persian cat sat on the coffee table and stared at her with wide eyes. Sam stretched out and reached her hand to the cat. The cat sniffed her hand and rubbed its head against her palm, encouraging her to pet it. Sam found herself smiling for the first time since she could remember. She climbed off the couch and picked the cat up, cradling him in her arms as she scratched his head. They started for the kitchen where Sam could hear humming along to the tune of Mozart's Requiem.

"Forgive me for saying this, but you don't strike me as the type of person hums. Especially not Mozart." Sam announced as she entered the kitchen. Vlad turned to face her. He appeared to be preparing an omelette for himself complete with the works.

His eyes bulged at the sight of her holding the cat. "Put Maddie down! She'll attack you."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Maddie? You do realize this cat is male, right? And he's happy. He just needs someone to play with him."

"What do you mean she's a boy?" Vlad asked.

Sam shrugged. "The genitals were a good indicator as girls don't have anything below the hips that dangle. How much time do you spend with him?"

"None. I just feed him and let him outside. He always attacks me." Vlad explained.

"Have you tried playing with him?" Sam countered.

"I don't have time for that. I'm a business man." Vlad argued.

"Well, he's my cat from here on out. I'm changing his name to Ares, and you'll need to buy some cat toys." Sam commanded.

"You can't just tell me what to do. This is my-"

"I could train him to attack you on command." Sam shrugged and scratched behind the cat's ears, listening to him purr.

"Fine." Vlad groaned. "What was that comment about me humming?"

Sam sat the cat on the floor and took to the stool she sat on the previous morning. "You just don't seem like the kind of man to hum, especially not Mozart."

His brow furrowed. "What should I be humming?"

"Beethoven's fifth." Sam answered flatly.

He turned back to her with a scowl on his lips. "The theme to jaws?"

She smirked, but she chose not to add anything more to the subject. "Would you happen to still have that salad and dressing in the fridge."

"Most certainly, Samantha." Vlad turned away from his omelette and stepped to the fridge. He retrieved a covered plastic tray and a glass bottle, and he sat them before Sam along with a fork he grabbed from the drawer in front of her. "May I interest you in a cup of coffee?"

"Yes, please." Sam pulled the lid from the tray and

Vlad scooped his omelette onto a plate and sat it aside while he grabbed a mug off the rack above the sink and filled it with coffee. He sat the mug in front of Sam, who in her failure to eat anything the previous day now ate her salad without hesitation.

Vlad sat his plate in front of a stool two down from hers, so as not to disturb her, and he grabbed a fork for himself as well as his mug off the counter before taking a seat.

"What do you have planned for today?" Sam asked Vlad when he sat down.

Vlad paused. "I was going to read and perhaps play a game of chess."

"Alone?" Sam inquired before taking another bite of her salad.

"I have no one else to challenge, and there isn't much to do in my life now that-"

"Now that you're no longer trying to destroy people's lives?" Sam finished for him.

He didn't respond.

"I guess that's the problem with dedicating your life to just one thing. Once that thing is gone, you realize just how pathetic your life is." Sam stabbed at her salad without picking anything up.

"Are you speaking from experience?" He questioned.

"Perhaps." Sam shrugged. "Or perhaps I'm just being a young adolescent who is trying to act older than she is."

Vlad watched her for a quiet moment before turning his attention to his omelette.

"I can play a couple games of chess with you if you'd like." Sam offered.

"You know how to play?" Vlad arched an eyebrow. Just when he thought he couldn't be surprised anymore by today's youth.

"It's been a couple of years, so I might be a little rusty, but I know it well enough that I might be a challenge for you." Sam replaced the lid on her salad tray, and she stood and returned the salad and dressing to the fridge. Vlad watched her with a quiet solace in his eyes, not knowing quite what he was feeling. She walked around the counter again and pushed open the door. She glanced back to him, speaking to the back of his head as she did. "I'm going to change and read a bit of my book. I'll be in the den if you decide you want to play a couple games."

Three hours passed, and Vlad left his office, locking the door behind himself as he went. He checked his watch and saw that it was only one, and he sighed. He was going stir crazy in the massive lonely house. He never realized how badly he needed human companionship before now. His feet absentmindedly carried him to the den where he found Sam with her back to him. Her fingers played with the ends of her hair, razored just past her chin. She'd let her bangs grow out over the years, so now they framed her large violet eyes in a choppy side-swept fringe. Her attention was cast on the pages of her book, and he mentally noted the tattoo of Danny's symbol between her shoulder blade and the lower half of her neck. He could only see it due to the black and violet off-shoulder maxi dress that she wore.

Vlad opted not to speak first, and he stepped to the side of the room where a custom wooden chess board with drawers sat on a table. He lifted the finely crafted piece of work and carried it to the coffee table. She glanced up to him, and he noticed she cleaned the old makeup off her face and replaced it with a faint touch of black eyeliner and mascara and nothing else. He sat in his preferred arm chair near the couch. "When you reach a good stopping point, perhaps you care to play a game with me."

Sam nodded and placed her a folded piece of paper between the pages of her book before setting it up on the table. He read the title to himself, Of Mice and Men.

"I'm the black pieces, always." Sam commanded.

"No, I'm the black pieces." Vlad stated. Her expression never wavered. "It's my house."

"You could always return to playing with yourself." Sam mentally noted that she probably experienced the only time she ever made that remark without someone making a joke about the double entandre.

"We will take turns." Vlad pulled out the drawers at the sides, revealing the pieces. "You may be the black pieces this game, and I will be them in the next game."

"Sounds apropos." Sam picked out her pieces and began setting up her side of the board.

She allowed him to open with the first move, and she allowed herself time to think before making her beginning move.

Ten minutes into the game, they still remained silent. Vlad saw her pick at the sides of her blackened fingernails while she thought over her moves, and he noticed how destroyed her hands already were from a history of this trait. He cleared his throat. "Who taught you to play?"

Sam's hands halted from their abusive work, and her shoulders seemed to relax though he never noticed her tense up. "My grandmother. We played it together when-" She stopped. "Well we played it together. What about you?"

"My father. He was incredibly intelligent, and I was raised on the game. I only grew to love the game after he died when I was seventeen." Vlad replied. "I assume it was a subconscious need to carry his memory with me."

"I'm sorry." Sam's lips deepened into a frown. "I kind of understand. My grandmother died last year."

"My apologies." He offered. "How is your family handling it?"

"Well . . ." Sam shrugged and a ghost of a smirk appeared on her face. "They'd be doing a lot better if she didn't leave everything to me."

Vlad wasn't sure what to say, so he didn't speak.

The pair fell silent again, and they continued to play. Sam won the game, and they began their second one. In the silence of the second game, Vlad's eyes drifted to her book. It was one he knew well though it'd been years since he'd read it.

"What draws you to Steinbeck?" Vlad asked.

Sam glanced to her book before moving one of her knights. "It's not exactly him per sea, it's the story."

Vlad waited.

Sam realized her answer didn't suffice, and she let out a heavy breath. "The idea that someone could love someone else so much that they sacrifice their life to take of them no matter what that means."

"He kills his best friend in the end." Vlad commented.

Sam leveled her eyes on his. "I said no matter what that means. He realized that his best friend would die a terribly painful death from the lynch mob, and in order to save his friend that suffering, he shoots him."

Vlad watched her carefully before returning his eyes to the board and moving one of his pieces. "Your mind works in interesting ways, Samantha. Are you sure it was the hero side that you were drawn to, and perhaps not more drawn to the other side?"

Sam moved another piece and looked at him, her eyes seemed to focus on his crimson silk tie. "I have morals, however, things are not always black and white. Where you and Danny see them as either good or evil, I look at everything situationally. But I suppose that's what makes Danny fit for the hero role and not myself. He has no judgement on the matter of who has a right to commit indecent acts. If you do something wrong, if you hurt someone else, you deserve to justice, no matter the circumstances. You do the same, only in a more selfish manner."

He opened his mouth to protest, but he knew she was right and let his mouth fall closed. "Well, if you tire of reading your book continuously, I do have a library that contains a wide variety of books."

Sam glanced at him with raised eyebrows. "They're not all about business, are they? Because that's not exactly my reading style."

"No, you will find I carry many types of books. All are open for you to borrow, so long as you return them." Vlad proposed.

"Well, don't I feel like Beauty in Beast's castle." She shrugged and settled her eyes on the board. "Only his castle was decorated in such poor taste."

Vlad shot her and amused but pointed look, which she pretended not to see, and they fell silent again as they finished their current game that he happened to win. They played one more round as a tie breaker, which Sam won, and Vlad left her alone in the den to place an order for two pizzas, one vegetarian with no cheese and the other a supreme. Sam continued to read her book in solitude while she waited for their food to arrive.

The pizzas took forty-five minutes to arrive, and Vlad tipped the driver five dollars. He carried two plates with two slices each into the den, and he handed Sam her plate without a word spoken between them.

"So you don't have a T.V.?" Sam asked as he sat in his chair.

"It broke, and I decided against replacing it." Vlad said.

"Why?" Sam asked, picking off a piece of onion and eating it by itself.

"Samantha," He sighed, he noticed her flinch at the use of her full name again, and he wondered if he just hadn't noticed it at all today until this moment. "You have things you would not like to share, and so do I."

Sam hesitated. "You've seen the things they say about you."

His lack of response was all the confirmation she needed.

"If it helps, they've started talking about you less. There's a special only once or twice a month now." She offered.

"Is the town really so bored that they must continue to drag this out?" Vlad muttered.

Sam didn't know what to say. She didn't disagree with what the town thought of him or how they treated him, but she also understood better than anyone what it felt like to be treated like the social outcast. There had been times where even her own best friends had ditched her for better opportunities, like parties or cooler people. She sighed and sunk in on herself on the couch.

They finished their meal without speaking another word, and as night fell they started to feel the comfort of the night calm them. Vlad returned to the den with a book in hand. Sam had finished her book an hour earlier, and now it lay on the coffee table while she watched the crackling of the embers in the hearth.

"I believe I have a book you might enjoy." Vlad interrupted her reverie.

Sam glanced back at him. "My eyes are strained from reading so much at the moment."

Vlad sat in his chair. "I can read some of it to you."

Sam shot him an incredulous look. "Do we look like an old married couple to you?"

"What else do you have to do with your time?" He would never admit it, but her company was beginning to grow on him, and he was trying to find an excuse to not be alone.

She sighed and pulled the blanket off the back of the couch once more and covered her legs. "Fine. What is the book?"

"It's actually a book of poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge," Vlad said as he opened to the first page.

"He wrote Christabel, the first known piece of literature about a vampire." Sam turned and propped her arms and head on the arm of the couch and she watched Vlad.

"Well, if you know that poem, then I don't believe we will start with that one." He flipped through a few pages.

"Just close the book and open it to a random spot and read the poem you land on." Sam suggested.

Vlad shot her look with his brow creased in lines.

"Just do it." Sam commanded.

With a huff, Vlad closed the book and picked a random place to open it at. "The Pains of Sleep."

"Sounds good." Sam nodded and settled back on the couch.

Vlad took a breath and began,

"Ere on my bed my limbs I lay,

It hath not been my use to pray

With moving lips or bended knees;

But silently, by slow degrees,

My spirit I to Love compose,

In humble Trust mine eye-lids close,

With reverential resignation,

No wish conceived, no thought expressed!

Ouly a sense of supplication,

A sense o'er all my soul impressed

That I am weak, yet not unblest,

Since in me, round me everywhere

Eternal Strength and Wisdom are.

"But yester-night I prayed aloud

In anguish and in agony,

Up-starting from the fiendish crowd

Of shapes and thoughts that tortured me:

A lurid light, a trampling throng,

Sense of intolerable wrong,

And whom I scorned, those only strong!

Thirst of revenge, the powerless will

Still baffled, and yet bruning still!

Desire with loathing strangely mixed

On mild or hateful objects fixed.

Fantastic passions! maddening brawl!

And shame and terror over all!

Deeds to be hid which were not hid,

Which all confused I could not know,

Whether I suffered, or I did:

For all seemed guilt, remorse or woe,

My own or others still the same

Life-stifling fear, soul-stifling shame.

"So two nights passed: the night's dismay

Saddened and stunned the coming day.

Sleep, the wide blessing, seemed to me

Distemper's worst calamity.

The third night, when my own loud screams

Had waked me from the fiendish dream,

O'ercome with sufferings stange and wild,

I wept as I had been a child;

And having thus by tears subdued

My anguish to a milder mood,

Such punishments, I said, were due

To natures deepliest stained with sin

For aye entempesting anew

The unfathomable hell within

The horror of their deeds to view,

To know and loathe, yet wish and do!

Such griefs with such men well agree,

But wherefore, wherefore fall on me?

To be beloved is all I need,

And whom I love, I love indeed."

Vlad finished the poem, and he cast his eyes to Sam only to find her fast asleep on the couch. He placed a marker inside the book and lay it on the coffee table before standing. He crossed to her side and pulled the blanket up to cover her shoulders so she wouldn't catch a chill, and then he left the den for his own room for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**A/N: This chapter is a little shorter than the others. I still hope you enjoy it. In the next chapter or two you will find out what the dark headcanon is that Sam is running from. **

The next morning, Vlad found the den empty. The book of poetry was missing as well. He walked the quiet halls to the room he'd put Sam in. He'd never quite realized how hollow his home sounded until he heard the tap of his shoes echo off the walls on that isolated trip. The door hung open slightly, and he could hear soft singing from inside. He peered through the sliver in the door, and he watched Sam write in a notebook with the book of poems at her side. A pair of headphones were plugged in her ears. He stepped back from the door, his brow furrowed, before leaving to return to the den.

Sam emerged from her room five hours later. She walked to the kitchen and found a covered plate in the fridge for her, bearing a tofu burger and fries. She put the plate in the microwave and waited for it to heat up. When she sat at the counter, the door swung open and Vlad entered. He sat an empty wine glass on the counter and grabbed a bottle from one of the shelves out of her view. He poured the burgundy liquid in his glass and took a sip before corking the bottle and putting it away.

"I believe I deserve to know why you are on the run now." Vlad raised a curious eyebrow as his finger circled around the rim of the glass.

Sam didn't bother looking at him. "I don't trust you. Me staying here for two days doesn't make that happen, not with everything you've done."

"Really? I'm allowing you to stay here. When you are trying to escape, I offer you santuary. The people who are supposed to care for you aren't here. The people you trust aren't even here! Your boyfriend, Daniel, isn't even here to take care of you. Your disappearance isn't on the news Samantha!" He didn't mean to yell, but something in his facade broke.

"Stop calling me that." She commanded through gritted teeth.

"If they really cared, they would be out looking for you. Instead, I am the one who is looking after you! I am the one taking care of you! Me! The person you don't trust! Where's Daniel if you trust him so much more than me? Where is your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Sam yelled, and he halted his verbal assault. "He dumped me, alright? Is that what you wanted to hear? You wanted to hear that I'm just like you, alone and bitter and broken because the person who I love more than anything, the person who I would've given up everything for, the person I laid down my life for, dumped me like a bag of rocks? Well guess what, I'm not like you. I may have had my heart ripped out and was forced to return to that nightmarish hell on earth that my parents call home, but I will not end up like you. I will not dedicate my life to destroying someone else."

"I am sorry, Samantha. I did not realize." Vlad offered before taking a long sip from his wine glass.

"Please, I'm begging you, do not call me that name anymore. I don't care whatelse you call me, just anything but that." Sam propped her elbows on the counter and rested her head between her hands.

The ache in her voice tugged at something in his chest he hadn't felt in years. "I will try my best, Sam." He paused and watched her wipe away a tear before it fell from her eye. "Did he perhaps give a reason?"

"I didn't stay to hear one." Sam sighed and dropped her hands to her side. Her eyes stayed on her food. "What does it matter what the reason is? If we're over, we're over, there is no other way around that. People always say they want closure in those instances, and I cannot understand why. I don't want closure. I just want to go away."

Before Vlad could say anything more, Sam hopped up from her stool and darted from the room. She ran back to through the hall and slammed the door to her bedroom. She climbed on her bed and cried into the pillow, cursing herself with every shaky breath.

Four hours passed, and Sam stepped inside the den. She wore a black long sleeved tunic over purple fishnet stockings and boots. Her makeup was fixed back to near perfection, as though she'd never cried. "I just want to say-"

She paused and Vlad turned away from his book and took in her figure in the entrance.

"I wanted to apologize for my outburst. It was rude of me. I am a house guest, and I should behave better. Thank you again for letting me stay here until I get my barrings, however long that may take." Sam began to turn to leave the room.

"Saman-." Vlad stopped himself. "Sam."

She turned back to face him.

"Would you like to play me in a couple games of chess?" Vlad asked.

"I would like that very much." Sam crossed the room and sat on the couch, a faint smile on her lips.


End file.
